Vladimir Putin: NATO Expansion to Georgia ‘Direct Threat’ to Russia

NATO expansion to Georgia and Ukraine endangers the security of the Russian Federation, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace, shortly after his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Helsinki on July 16.

Asked what would be the Kremlin’s reaction if the Alliance admitted Georgia and Ukraine, Putin said moving of NATO’s military infrastructure closer to Russia’s borders poses “direct threat” to its security and that it will regard the process “extremely negatively.”

Vladimir Putin’s remarks come less than a week after the Brussels Summit Declaration, which reiterated the decision made at the 2008 Bucharest Summit “that Georgia will become a member of the Alliance, with MAP as an integral part of the process.”